Aftermath

People never realize the impact their actions have on others.  Like the tsunami that happened off the coast of Sumatra and destroyed Sri Lanka almost 1,000 miles away.  

As I summarized in why I applied for a C.G., I was laid off in May of 2008.  Concurrently, a young man that my husband I had been mentoring, became our foster child.  Sadly, no one told us that he had very real mental issues.  It's hard to tell a mentally-ill teenager from an average teenager.  And that says something about being a teenager.  In any case, six months later, he was on drugs, became violent and literally beat us up on Christmas Day.  He was removed from our care thereafter.   If you've watched the movie, The Blind Side, we were the polar opposite of Sandra Bullock's experience.

I assembled my BCG application during the time period of his drug use and applied directly after he left our home.  I have no doubt that had an impact on how I assembled the application.  However, by that time I had been out of work for 9 months and was strongly thinking of doing research for hire in between writing books.  Then six months later, I was rejected.

That rejection, coupled with the year plus of unemployment and failed foster child experience lead me to a severe depression, where I had to be hospitalized.  It took another nine months to recover from that.  I'm sure the BCG judges had and have no idea what they did to me.  It was the last straw in a series of traumatic experiences for me.  As I've said, it has tainted genealogy for me possibly forever.  I sit most days vacillating between staying and going with this blog, now the only genealogical outlet I have left.  It's also why in April when the computer died, I was quite ready to walk away from the whole thing.  

But a year has gone by.  I have a new job now [non-genealogical and non-librarian].  I can write about the experience with a slight degree of objectivity.  As for genealogy, when I blew off the genealogical society that I had promised to lecture to, the lady said, "give up genealogy?  No one gives up genealogy.  It's addictive."  Well, lady, we'll see.  I gave up cigarettes and caffeine.  I'm pretty sure I can give up anything.  

Comments

[Dave Morehouse]

Martin, you have truly been through hell, and I'm sure very few of your readers, myself included, had any idea.

I just wanted to make sure you're aware of the very positive impact you have on your many readers, how much we value your insights (especially your willingness to take on "sacred cows"), how sad we'd be if you abandoned genealogy, how the loss of your contributions would be a real loss to the genealogical community, and how much your contributions are respected notwithstanding the seemingly inexplicable result of your application.

[Susan Johanson]

I second the above post.

[Martin Hollick]

Thank you!

[Martin Hollick]

Thank you. I wasnt fishing for compliments, but its nice when they happen.

[Marie]

I have absolutely no doubt that you are capable of giving up genealogy, but I really hope that you do not! Your "New Englanders in the 1600s" and various articles have had immeasurable and continuing impact on my research efforts. Thank you so much! For what it's worth, you carry my full certification!

I have been toying with the CG notion myself, but I was afraid it might be too much like university tenure procedures and related hoop-jumping. This series of posts has given me closure; thank you for that, too!

Best wishes!

[Martin Hollick]

Thank you very much for the kind words. I hope people learn from my mistakes in order to make a better application. I dont want to discourage anyone from applying. Just make sure to get your application ready and find a C.G. you know and trust to go over it before you send it in!

[Marie]

You are very welcome! No, I didn't take your posts as discouraging but rather as a clear example of the sort of 'jumping through hoops' that I promised my self I would never do again (or, at least not when I have a choice!).